Should You Inject Your Turkey the Night Before Cooking?

One effective way to season your turkey prior to cooking is by injecting it with a marinade. The result is a juicy and flavorful meal! Keep reading to learn more about how to inject a turkey with marinade, and why you should try it.

Injecting a turkey before cooking is a popular technique to boost moisture and infuse flavor deep into the meat. But when is the best time to inject – the night before or right before cooking? There are benefits to both so let’s weigh the pros and cons to help you decide when you should inject your turkey.

Why Injecting the Night Before Works

Injecting your turkey the night before you plan to cook it has some advantages

Longer marinating time – Injecting 8-12 hours before allows the flavors to permeate deeply into the meat overnight.
Enhanced flavor – The extra marinating time results in a turkey that is infused with more flavor from the injection.
Tenderizing effects – Salt and acidic injecting liquids have more time to break down collagen for tender meat.
No last-minute prep – You can get the injection done ahead of time so it’s one less thing to worry about right before cooking.
Reaching whole turkey – If injecting a whole turkey, doing it the night before gives time for flavors to distribute throughout.
Convenience – For holiday turkeys, injecting the night before frees up oven space on the big cooking day.
Food safety – Thoroughly injected turkeys can be kept refrigerated safely overnight.

Potential Downsides to Injecting the Night Before

Despite the benefits, there are a few reasons you may want to wait and inject right before cooking:

Dilution of flavors – Marinating too long can cause some flavors from the injection to dissipate.
Uneven distribution – Gravity can cause injected liquids to pool at the bottom overnight.
Safety concerns – Raw poultry juices require meticulous cleanup to avoid contamination.
skin damage- needle holes In the skin from injecting can weep juices if left overnight.
Loss of texture – Salt and acids in the injection can start to breakdown the turkey texture.
Less temperature control – Once injected, the turkey should be refrigerated, not left out.
Extra handling – Taking the turkey out to inject then re-refrigerating adds extra steps.
Moisture loss – Some surface moisture loss can happen in the fridge overnight.

Tips for Injecting Your Turkey the Night Before

If you do decide to inject the night before, follow these best practices:

Inject breast, thighs, drumsticks to cover all the meat. Avoid over-injecting.
Refrigerate immediately after injecting to keep below 40°F.
Use an injection with acids like wine, citrus, or vinegar for tenderizing benefits.
Inject just 6-8 hours before if concerned about flavor dilution.
Pat turkey dry before cooking to remove excess surface liquid.
Flip turkey and massage injection liquid around periodically if able.
Add rub right before cooking so flavors don’t wash off overnight.
Adjust cooking technique if needed to account for extra moisture inside.

Recommendations for Injecting Right Before Cooking

If you decide last-minute is best, here are some pointers:

Make your injection mix the day before so it’s ready to go.
Inject turkey immediately before placing it into the oven, smoker, etc.
Cover the entire surface of the turkey, especially thick areas.
Plan enough time in your schedule for injecting before guests arrive.
Keep injected raw turkey contained to avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen.
Be prepared to multitask between injecting and any other prep still needed.
Let turkey rest briefly after injecting so liquid can soak in before cooking.
Expect slightly less pronounced flavors compared to overnight injecting.

Example Injection Marinade Recipes

Whether you inject the night before or right before cooking, you’ll need a flavorful turkey injection mix. Here are some tasty recipes to try:

Herb butter injection – Melted butter, rosemary, thyme, sage, garlic, salt, pepper
Citrus injection – Orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, Cajun seasoning
Savory injection – Chicken broth, olive oil, garlic, onion powder, Worcestershire
Apple injection – Apple juice, brown sugar, apple pie spice, garlic powder
Wine injection – White wine, chicken broth, onion, parsley, bay leaf

Deciding whether to inject your turkey the night before or right before cooking comes down to your schedule, goals, and cooking method. Both timelines have their merits. For more pronounced flavors and tender meat, go for the overnight marinating time. If you’re short on time or concerned about texture, inject right before cooking. Either way, an injected turkey will be far more moist and flavorful.

should i inject turkey the night before

How to Inject a Turkey with Marinade

Meat Injector: A meat injector has a large syringe and a thick needle. You will pull your marinade into the syringe and evenly inject it into all parts of your turkey.
Whole Turkey or Turkey Breast: Fresh or frozen whole turkeys or turkey breasts are best for marinade injections. That’s because the meat is thick enough to hold the injected marinade. However, if you have a frozen turkey, you must thaw it before injecting your marinade.
Ingredients for Marinade Injection: The marinade that will go into your injection must be smooth and not overly thick, as a too-thick marinade will clog the needle. Any marinade of your desired flavor profile will do, but if you’re looking for inspiration check out our Spicy Grilled Turkey recipe for a marinade recommendation.

Here’s how to inject a turkey with marinade to enhance its flavor:

Thaw your frozen turkey by leaving it in your refrigerator for several days. If you don’t have that much time to thaw your turkey, you can defrost it in a cold water bath. Alternatively, buy a fresh turkey so you can skip the thawing process and move to the next step.

For the most flavorful turkey, season the exterior of your turkey by dry brining it. You can dry brine your turkey by evenly coating it with salt, black pepper, and dried herbs and letting the turkey rest in your fridge for 12 to 24 hours. Besides dry brining, you can season the outside of your turkey with a wet rub or mop sauce.

Prepare your injection marinade by grinding your preferred herbs and spices into a fine powder. Avoid using spices or seasonings that may overpower the natural flavor of your turkey. Instead, opt for spices that will enhance your turkey’s flavor. Seasonings commonly added to injection marinades include salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, and black pepper.

Combine your blended spices with a liquid, like seasoned oil, vinegar, wine, chicken stock, melted butter, or duck fat. The liquid will be the vehicle that distributes your spice blend throughout the turkey after injecting it. Besides flavoring your meat, the liquid will enhance its moistness and succulence as it cooks. Check out a delicious turkey injection marinade recipe here.

If you had to heat your marinade to make it, allow it to cool before putting it into your meat injector. After pulling the marinade into your meat injector, set it aside.

After the dry brine, brush the excess rub off your turkey and let the turkey cool to room temperature. Once at room temperature, begin injecting your turkey with the marinade.

Inject the turkey with about two teaspoons of the marinade in as many places possible, especially the breasts, thighs, and other thick parts of the turkey. The more evenly you distribute the injection placement, the more likely that every bite of turkey will be juicy and delicious.

After injecting your turkey, you can immediately begin cooking it with your oven, grill, smoker, or another cooking method. Alternatively, you can wait a few hours to let the injected marinade seep deeper into the meat before cooking. If you choose to wait, store your injected turkey in the fridge for no more than 36 hours before cooking.

Why You Should Inject Your Turkey with Marinade

When you rub seasonings on your turkey, you flavor only the skin. If you want your seasonings to penetrate deep into the turkey meat for an extra succulent and tasty meal, you should try injecting your turkey with a marinade. If you’ve never tried this before, below are some of the benefits you can expect from seasoning your turkey with this technique:

Save Time: Brining is a technique that involves soaking your turkey in a brining solution until the meat absorbs the brining liquid. The process can leave you with juicy and tasty meat but takes 12 to 24 hours. Injecting a turkey with marinade can help you achieve similar results within minutes. After injecting your turkey with the marinade, you can immediately cook it and avoid the hassle of spending hours brining your turkey.
Deeper Flavor Penetration: Rubbing a marinade or dry rub on a turkey will only flavor the exterior. Even if you let the seasoning sit on the turkey for hours, it will not penetrate as deeply as injecting the turkey with a marinade. The deep penetration of an injected marinade makes it ideal for seasoning thick cuts of meat like turkey breasts.
Increased Moisture: Your turkey will retain most of the injected marinade during cooking, leaving you with a moist and delicious meal.
Convenient: Besides being an effective technique, injecting a turkey is convenient in comparison to brining your turkey, since you do not need to clear out your fridge to store the turkey submerged in a brining liquid. Also, the cleanup required after injecting your turkey is minimal.

Is it better to inject a turkey the night before?

FAQ

Can you inject a turkey too early?

Plan to inject the turkey right before cooking. Don’t too it too early and do it AFTER rubbing with seasoning or butter (if you are doing either of these). The pressure from the massage will push out the marinade.

How long before smoking should you inject?

It’s recommended that you inject the juices at least five minutes before you start smoking or cooking your meat. This is because it will give the juice enough time to spread through the meat before you begin cooking it.

Do you need to inject a turkey if you brine it?

While properly brining a turkey won’t make it too salty, it does add salt to the meat. If you then add a salty rub or injection marinade you can end up with a turkey too salty to eat. For this reason, if you are brining your bird, make sure you rinse it thoroughly after it comes out of the brine.

Why would you brine a turkey?

The purpose of a brine is to produce a more tender and flavorful turkey. According to research published in the Journal of Food Science , the salt in the brine dissolves a bit of the protein in the muscle fibers, and allows the meat to absorb the brine and retain moisture during cooking.